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Monday, July 30, 2012

Doom purveyors Alunah are well-known around the Ripple halls, their previous EP Fall to Earth having made it's way onto our Ripple player. This time around, Alunah have really upped the ante and jumped into the game all-in. Cards be damned, this is fiery stoner-laden doom, with smoke screens of fuzz and a gambler's debt of groove. While the EP was a good debut, something about it never quite worked for me, and I think it had to do with the vocals of Sophie Willett. Being coy, almost babydoll-esque, her tone just seemed to clash with the band, in my mind. Not so here. She's more powerful, like on "Living Fast in An Ancient Land," really belting it out while maintaining her unique style. Personally, I think the vocals could still be higher in mix to bring them more to the front, so she's not overpowered by the raging stoner metal behind her. But that's mild. Her tone is what really sets the band apart from their male-led counterparts.

Thick and raging, this is some heavy shit. Pounding and monstrous as any other doom purveyor out there, Alunah have a sound all their own. Mixing stoner, rock and doom into one seamless whole, Call of Avernus is Alunah's real coming out party. Welcome to the poker match of doom, my friends. Alunah's not taking any prisoners.

They've already had a single get major airplay across the midwest. They've been produced by Michael Beck who's also worked with Chimera, Black Dahlia Murder, and Soilwork. They've opened for Kid Rock, Brett Michaels and Vince Neil. With that resume you can probably guess what road Paisty Jenny plows.

Yep, full on modern arena rock of the type that woulda made Mr. Neil's full-time band proud. Melody rich, chorus thick, guitar mad arena rock with tattoos and a sneer. Not really the new coming of Motley Crue so much as Buckcherry with a touch of Guns n Roses. I actually don't care for the leadoff single "Anything" that much, a tad whinny and generic for me through the chorus, but the album really kicks off with the GnR-inspired "Back of Your Hand." A flat out arena rocker that could get even the back row of the audience to leap to their feet. "Hypocrisy" is just as mean and nasty with some tasty chops. "Head in a Haze" harkens back to the days when the Crue were actually good. Amped up and snotty rock n spittle.

Apparently, there's a killer stoner/doom scene in Greece. Who knew? 1000Mods knew. Coming from the land of antiquity, these killer van dwellers waste no time in causing the pillars of the ancients to tremble and quake under the power of their detuned bass and massively fuzzed out riffs. Forget Zeus and Athena and the others, 1000Mods worship at the alter of Kyuss and present their sacrifices to the image of Fu Manchu.

Doom, psychedelic rock, stoner, heavy rock, Greece. Those are the tags at the bottom of their bandcamp page. Nothing more needs to be said. Heavy, heavy, grooving, fuzzed out stuff. There. That's my contribution. Oh yeah. And good. Very good. Check em out.

From Sweden. Stoner rock with a blissed out fuzz. Doom with a heartbeat. Did I say they're from Sweden? Need I say more?

Ok, I will. Catalpult the Smoke take the template of Fu Manchu and Kyuss and other stoner masters of the 90's and drape the whole thing with layers and layers of darkness so thick the sun can never shine in that desert. Like a beautiful landscape the day after an atomic bomb. Desolation and despair hang thickly in the air. Guitars are huge constructs sweeping across the wasted horizon, like terminators scanning for survivors. Heavy, heavy stuff. Should appeal to all doom fans out there.

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